Otoboku: Open for Preorders

We’re proud to announce that Otoboku is up for preorder! By placing your order now, you’ll get the game immediately upon release on 23 November (Japan Time!) *and* save 10%. Come embrace your feminine side and trap it up with the sweet girls of Seio.

Yes! You have NO idea how thrilled I was when I saw this game listed, seriously. Back in the day of visual novels being just about impossible to find in English unless they were, like, ZyX and that lot (no offense, ZyX), I’d often fill that void by watching anime adaptations (subbed or fansubbed into English, of course). And now one of those games I watched the anime of and dreamed I could someday play has a set English release date! Seriously, I’m thrilled here. Thank you Mangagamer for existing and selling me games I never thought I’d actually get the chance to play!

Watched and bought the anime some time ago after the announcement. Thought the anime was really sweet and better than most other adaptations I’ve seen before of the same school life genre, I actually re-watched it several times, 2 times online then 3 times when my dvds came in the mail XD.

I probably won’t have money for the game during release though or even this year……especially November(GSC Ultimate Madoka anyone?) and a few other titles I’ve yet to buy being Dengeki Stryker and DEARDROPS.

Yeh same, but i’m also getting nendo kuma (P4) and the re-releases of Shiki, Momohime and nendo saber lion expensive month :/ Not as bad as this month though if eveything I have ordered gets released, if it gets pushed to NOV OMG O_o; ugh shipping…

The anime is one of my favourites. I watched it at least 5 times, because the mood is so charming and sweet.
Therefore I’ve been waiting for this game since I first saw in Wikipedia that it was licensed by MG.
Already preordered it! I really hope we will see more games from Caramel Box (and BaseSon btw) in the future.

I don’t really get why so many people are interested in this visual novel.
There are several points that turn me off:
1. The art doesn’t look all that good.
2. I think that that traps are quite disturbing.
3. The basic idea of the story doesn’t interest me.

I realise that point 1 and 2 are just a matter of taste. The art probably looks wonderful for some people and if you’re into traps that cool with me.

However what about the story? As I said, the basic idea doesn’t sound all that interesting.
However, from the information MangaGamer put up on the product page for “Otoboku” I don’t know what the tone of the story is. Does it have a lot of humorous moments? Does it explore the characters? Is it tragic and sad? Is it heart-warming?
Could someone who has already played this visual novel give me some information about that?

>> 1. The art doesn’t look all that good.
I really like the art. It’s really stylish and elegant. But it’s a matter of taste of course.

>> 2. I think that that traps are quite disturbing.
The protagonist is actually quite embarassed that he has to cross dress and the constant danger of getting discovered causes a lot of amusing situations. For example, in a basketball match he can’t hold back (he’s pretty good in sports and school) and kicks off like there’s no tomorrow.
After that he come’s to mind and it goes like “Oh, shit! What have I done!?”.
He also doesn’t act exaggerated feminine. He acts more mature, helpful and responsible, kind of like a school ‘prince’. I found the protagonist quite likable to be honest. (Definitely a difference to the looser characters I had to endure lately in several VN’s…)

However, those are my impressions from the anime , and I’m not sure how close it is to the VN.

>> 3. The basic idea of the story doesn’t interest me.
It’s still a traditional school life VN at heart. If you don’t like that, you might better try another VN.

As others have said, the game mostly ranges between “heartwarming” and “wistful,” with a heavy emphasis on close friendship and romantic love. There is a bit of tragedy (or threat of tragedy) in it, but the general tone of the game is very hopeful, very “we can work together and make this better.” Moreso than being a game about wacky traps, it’s about a man exploring his feminine side and indeed what it means to be “feminine” or “masculine.”

There’s a fair amount of humor in the game, but it’s more of the “so-and-so is so cute and silly that way” variety rather than anything too wacky or boingsplatty. Most of the scenes in the game are just the “girls” hanging out one way or another and having fun, Mizuho trying to balance his desire to help people in need with his need to maintain his disguise, and generally ruminating on his experiences at Seio.

Thank you all for taking the time and answering my question. I really appreciate it 🙂
The game now looks more interesting to me. Although it will probably be a while until I get to it since I just recently discovered MangaGamer and there are other games that interest me more (Kara no Shoujo, Dengeki Stryker, etc.)

@Chaos Raven:
About my third point: Now that I’m thinking about it, I really enjoy the boarding school setting.
At least I love the atmosphere in Harry Potter and enjoyed returning to a similiar place when I read “The Name of the Wind”.
What I mostly enjoy about this genre is that the protagonist has to live with many interesting characters under the same roof and can’t avoid running into them. This creates an interesting microcosm full of friends, rivals, loonies and mysterious persons. Also I quite enjoy a boarding school rival (e. g. Draco Malfoy). The last thing really that stands out to me from this genre are the shenanigans or schemes the protagonist and his friends carry out.
So let me ask another question: Is the atmosphere of Harry Potter similar to the atmosphere in Otoboku?

You have similar sets (the cute, perky junior, the rival (though she’s more of a frenemy), the mysterious guiding character, the comic relief) as in your standard boarding school story, but I’d say it’s a lighter world and far gentler tale than Potter. And, of course, no magic.

@Zamomin I think you’d probably like Otoboku2: Futari no Elder better. It has a similar name but completely different characters and Caramel Box evidently put more money and time into it than the first one. The trap is much better and the story arcs are written better as well. Hopefully Mangagamer will get the license to this from Caramel Box as well. I liked playing Otoboku1, but, in my opinion, Otoboku2 is a much better product.

>> Is the atmosphere of Harry Potter similar to the atmosphere in Otoboku?
‘Similar’ would probably be too far stretched, but it’s probably one of the western productions that has the most similarities with it. Otoboku has some super natural elements too, but it’s not a magic school, it’s a school for highborn ladies.
The mood of the (early) Harry Potter movies is more quirky and mysterious while Otoboku is more charming and romantic. Otoboku’s ‘Malfoy’ is Takako the school president. Both are conservative ‘noble bloods’, but while Malfoy is a wicked villain, Takako is a very honest person, who is character wise more similar to Hermine than Malfoy. (Hermine can be quite stubborn too…)
The theme of the anime is a developping love story between the two, since Takako slowly develops feelings towards the protagonist. Which is again quite amusing since she’s almost shocked to have romantic feelings towards a ‘girl’.
However, the closest movie production to Otoboku is probably Maria-sama ga Miteru, another anime.
And the Otoboku VN is still an Eroge, therefore it will proably offer a lot more ‘adult’ content than Harry Potter 😉

I hope this will be more successful than getting the successor to Koihime (although I haven’t given up on Shin yet…). It would be a shame if the best VN’s wouldn’t get successors. I wonder why Shuffle doesn’t get a successor neither if it did sell so well. Though, I don’t really know if there’s even a Shuffle 2…
BTW, I think I’ll try to check out the animes for Futari No Elder. Unfortunately, they seem to be just OVA’s and not a complete season. But well, better than nothing.

ChaosRaven > there are no “shuffle! 2” but there are “Essence+” which is an upgrade like “Da Capo Plus Communication” and severals fandisks (really? really? / tick tack / etc.)
And sad enough, Futari no Elder is only 2 OAV.

@Kouryuu: There IS a “SHUFFLE! 2” but it’s called SHUFFLE! Essence+ and it’s not TECHNICALLY a sequel so much as a re-do with better graphics and added routes. In addition to the main 5 getting extended routes, you get routes for Kareha, Tsubomi(the little nympho), Sakura (from Really? Really!), Mayumi, Bene-sensei(really poorly written, imo), and a new God-girl called Daisy whom you have to run through all other routes before you get her, but she’s got the most satisfying end of all. ^__^

@minirop: Otoboku2 is 3 OVAs, not 2. They’re very well done and I wish they’d have done more, but oh well…